Medical image processing apparatus, program installable into medical image processing apparatus, and medical image processing method

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides a medical image processing apparatus capable of readily creating, from a medical image, an electronic document that displays a three-dimensional body organ model. The medical image processing apparatus performs control to acquire patient information from DICOM additional information of medical image data designated when the creation of the electronic document has been instructed, and to create the electronic document of the three-dimensional body organ model corresponding to the medical image data, the electronic document containing the acquire patient information. To which patient the three-dimensional body organ model belongs can be identified on the electronic document.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/965,159, filed Apr. 27, 2018, which is a continuation ofInternational Patent Application No. PCT/JP2016/081979, filed Oct. 28,2016, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No.2015-213479, filed Oct. 29, 2015; to Japanese Patent Application No.2015-213477, filed Oct. 29, 2015; and to Japanese Patent Application No.2015-213478, filed Oct. 29, 2015, all of which are hereby incorporatedby reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a medical image processing apparatus,a medical image processing method, and a program installable into themedical image processing apparatus.

Background Art

Recently, medical practices of creating a three-dimensional image of ahuman body from a medical image that has been captured by medicalapparatuses, such as an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus andan X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, and of utilizing thethree-dimensional image in treatment and diagnosis have been widelyconducted in the field of medical care. Patent Literature (PTL) 1discloses a medical image diagnosis apparatus capable of specifying atumor range on the basis of a three-dimensional image, which has beencreated from a medical image, even for a visually unrecognizable tumor,and of aiding to determine an excision range.

By using a high-performance computer, the three-dimensional imagecreated from the medical image can be presented in a manner of allowingthe image to be rotated optionally, or under desired display conditionsthrough rendering processing. On the other hand, there is also a demandfor a technique of enabling the three-dimensional image to be reviewedeven in, for example, an operating room in which the high-performancecomputer is not equipped. A method of outputting a three-dimensionalbody organ model as an electronic document in the PDF format, forexample, can be used as an example of the technique of displaying thethree-dimensional image with a general-purpose computer.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

-   PTL 1 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-61035

In a medical image processing apparatus of related art, however,creating the electronic document capable of displaying theabove-described three-dimensional body organ model has been considerablyintricate because a user is required to perform the task of causing thecomputer to create surface shape data from a medical image that has beencaptured by medical apparatuses, such as an MRI (Magnetic ResonanceImaging) apparatus and an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, tooutput the surface shape data in the file format readable as anelectronic document, and to read the surface shape data as theelectronic document.

SUMMARY

In view of the above-mentioned state of the art, an object of thepresent disclosure is to provide a technique capable of readily creatingan electronic document that is able to display a three-dimensional bodyorgan model from a medical image. In particular, an object of thepresent disclosure is to provide a technique capable of creating anelectronic document in such a manner that a user can identify to whichpatient information represented by the three-dimensional body organmodel belongs.

To achieve the above objects, the present disclosure provides a medicalimage processing apparatus of creating an electronic document used todisplay a three-dimensional body organ model, the medical imageprocessing apparatus including an accepting unit that accepts aninstruction of designating medical image data and creating an electronicdocument corresponding to the medical image data, an acquisition unitthat acquires patient information from DICOM additional information ofthe medical image data designated when the creation of the electronicdocument has been instructed through the accepting unit, and a controlunit that performs, in response to the electronic-document creationinstruction accepted by the accepting unit, control to create theelectronic document of the three-dimensional body organ modelcorresponding to the medical image data, the relevant electronicdocument containing the patient information acquired by the acquisitionunit.

Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagrams representing examples of a hardwareconfiguration and a functional configuration of a medical imageprocessing apparatus 101.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart referenced to explain a flow of medical imageprocessing according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart referenced to explain a flow of medical imageprocessing according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart referenced to explain a flow of medical imageprocessing according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus when it outputs an electronic document.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example of a screen for setting a name of a bodyorgan model. FIG. 6B illustrates an example of a screen for setting adisplay color of the body organ model. FIG. 6C illustrates an example ofa table for managing layer information having been set.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus when it outputs an electronic document.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus when it outputs an electronic document.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus when it outputs an electronic document.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medicalimage processing apparatus when it outputs an electronic document.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A method of outputting an electronic document capable of displaying athree-dimensional body organ model by using medical three-dimensionalimage data, which is created from volume data (plurality of slice imagedata) captured by a medical image diagnosis apparatus (modalityapparatus), will be described in detail below with reference to thedrawings.

The modality apparatus usable in this embodiment and capable ofcapturing a medical image is, for example, an MRI (Magnetic ResonanceImaging) apparatus, an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, a PET(Positron Emission Tomography) apparatus, or an ultrasonic diagnosisapparatus. Medical image data captured by that modality apparatus isstored in conformity with standards, called the DICOM (Digital Imagingand Communication in Medicine) standards, designed to standardizecommunication protocols and data formats for medical images. The data inconformity with the DICOM standards is made up of a region where imagedata such as slice image data is stored, and a region where additionalinformation related to the image data is stored. The DICOM additionalinformation contains not only patient information regarding a patientwho is an object in capturing the image data, such as patient name,patient ID, inspection date, birth day, age, and body shape information,but also information regarding conditions in capturing the image data.That medical image data is stored in an image server, which is generallycalled a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) in ahospital, to be utilizable in various departments of the hospital. Inthese days, the PACS has also been built into a cloud service.

This embodiment is described in connection with an example in which adata format of an electronic document created by using the medical imagedata is the PDF format, but the data format is not limited to the PDFformat insofar as being able to display a three-dimensional body organmodel.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram representing an example of a hardwareconfiguration of a medical image processing apparatus 101 (also calledan “information processing apparatus”) according to this embodiment. Themedical image processing apparatus 101 according to this embodiment isconfigured to acquire (read) volume data created on the basis of imagedata that has been captured by the medical image processing apparatus,and to execute image processing of a medical three-dimensional image.Processing to create medical three-dimensional image data may beexecuted by the medical image processing apparatus 101 or by anotherprocessor in advance.

A CPU 201 performs centralized control over individual devices andcontrollers connected to a system bus 204.

A ROM 202 or an external memory 211 (storage unit) stores not onlycontrol programs for the CPU 201, such as BIOS (Basic Input/OutputSystem) and an operating system program (called “OS” hereinafter), butalso other various programs, described later, necessary for realizingthe functions executed by the medical image processing apparatus 101. ARAM 203 functions as a main memory, a work area, etc. for the CPU 201.

The CPU 201 performs various operations by loading the programs, whichare needed to execute the processing, into the RAM 203, and by executingthe loaded programs.

An input controller (Input C) 205 controls inputs from an input device209, for example, a keyboard or a pointing device such as a mouse (notillustrated).

A video controller (VC) 206 controls display of images onto a displayunit such as a display 210. The display unit may be a CRT or a liquidcrystal display, but the type of the display unit is not limited tothose examples.

A memory controller (MC) 207 controls accesses to a hard disk (HD), aflexible disk (FD), or an external memory 211, such as a card memory,connected to a PCMCIA card slot through an adaptor, those disks andthose memories storing a boot program, browser software, variousapplications, font data, user files, editing files, various data, etc.

A communication I/F controller (Communication I/F C) 208 establishesconnection to and performs communication with an external unit, such asa storage device, which stores images acquired by a medical imagediagnosis apparatus, such as a CT apparatus, via a network, and furtherexecutes communication control processing in the network. For example,Internet communication using TCP/IP can be performed.

The CPU 201 enables images to be displayed on the display 210 byexecuting a rendering (rasterization) process of outline font into adisplay information region within the RAM 203, for example.

Moreover, the CPU 201 enables a user to enter an instruction by using,for example, a mouse cursor (not illustrated) on the display 210.

Various programs, etc. used to execute various types of processing(described later) by the medical image processing apparatus 101according to some embodiments are recorded in the external memory 211and are executed by the CPU 201 by being loaded into the RAM 203 as theoccasion requires.

Definition files and various information tables used when executing theprograms in some embodiments are also stored in the external memory 211.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram representing a functional configuration ofthe medical image processing apparatus 101. The CPU in the medical imageprocessing apparatus 101 functions as a layer management unit 250, asurface data creation unit 251, a layer display condition setting unit252, a patient information acquisition unit 253, and a 3DPDF outputcontrol unit 254.

The layer management unit 250 manages regions specified from the medicalimage data, which has been captured by the medical image diagnosisapparatus, as a layer for each of the regions. Here, the layermanagement unit 250 may be a functional unit that manages, as a layer,each region extracted on the basis of automatic extraction conditionshaving been set and managed in advance corresponding to analysissoftware, or that manages, as a layer of a three-dimensional body organmodel, each region specified by the user from the medical image data.

The surface data creation unit 251 (surface shape creation unit) is afunctional unit capable of converting the medical three-dimensionalimage data to surface shape data. When a body organ for which anelectronic document is to be output is divided into a plurality oflayers, the surface data creation unit 251 can perform the conversion tothe surface shape data divided per region corresponding to each layer.Suitable one of the known techniques, for example, the Marching cubesalgorithm, can be used as a method of converting the medical image datato the surface shape data.

The layer display condition setting unit 252 is a functional unit forsetting display conditions as to how the three-dimensional body organmodel is to be displayed on the electronic document. The layer displaycondition setting unit 252 can set display conditions, such as a layerdisplay color for each of layers constituting the three-dimensional bodyorgan model and a layer name (display name). Those display conditionsmay be set by acquiring the layer display color and the layer name thathave been set in advance corresponding to the analysis software, or maybe set by acquiring the layer display color and the layer name that areset by the user.

The patient information acquisition unit 253 is a functional unit thatacquires the patient information, such as the patient name, the patientID, the inspection date, the birth day, the age, and the gender, fromthe DICOM additional information of the medical three-dimensional imagedata to be output as the electronic document.

The 3DPDF output control unit 254 (electronic document creation controlunit) is a functional unit that executes control to output theelectronic document in the PDF format, which can display thethree-dimensional body organ model, on the basis of the surface shapedata created by the surface data creation unit 251. Thethree-dimensional body organ models divided into a plurality of layerscan be output together as the electronic document. It is also possibleto control outputting of the electronic document in a manner ofdisplaying the display conditions acquired by the layer displaycondition setting unit and the patient information acquired by thepatient information acquisition unit as well.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus according to some embodiments, on which the usercan instructs creation of the electronic document. This embodiment isdescribed in connection with an example in which the medicalthree-dimensional image data for a region including a heart is output asthe electronic document.

In the case of targeting, for example, the region including the heart(called the “heart region” hereinafter), the medical image processingapparatus 101 is configured to be able to manage the heart region whiledividing it into a plurality of layers called “right coronary artery”,“left coronary artery”, “heart”, and “main artery”, and to makeswitching between a display mode and a non-display mode upon selectionof a display button 501 on the display per layer. In the case ofoutputting the 3DPDF, the medical image processing apparatus 101 canmake control to output, as the three-dimensional body organ model, thelayer for which the display mode is selected by the display button 501,and not to output, as the three-dimensional body organ model, the layerfor which the non-display mode is selected. The layer may be set as aregion that is extracted by the user from the medical three-dimensionalimage data. Alternatively, when the analysis software started up indisplaying the medical three-dimensional image data performs managementin a manner of extracting a predetermined region in advance (namely,when the medical image processing apparatus 101 includes an extractioncondition management unit), the layer may be set as the region extractedin accordance with those extraction conditions.

A thumbnail image display portion 502 is a display portion capable ofdisplaying a thumbnail image of the region set as the layer, and it canbe further used to set the layer name. More specifically, when thethumbnail image display portion 502 is selected, a layer name settingscreen 601 illustrated in FIG. 6A is displayed. The layer name can beset by entering a desired layer name in an entry field 602, and bypressing an OK button 604. Furthermore, because the names entered in thepast are displayed in a history field 603, the layer name can also beset by selecting one of the names displayed in the history field 603.The layer name can be set per layer. Instead of setting the layer nameon the layer name setting screen 601 by the user, the layer name may beset as a preset name when a name corresponding to each region is set inadvance by the analysis software started up in displaying the medicalthree-dimensional image data.

A layer display color setting portion 504 is a setting portion capableof setting a layer display color when surface display is performed. Whenthe layer display color setting portion 504 is selected, a coloradjustment pallet 611 illustrated in FIG. 6B is displayed, and the layerdisplay color can be set by selecting a desired color in the coloradjustment pallet 611, and by pressing an Accept button 612. The layerdisplay color can be set per layer. Instead of setting the layer displaycolor as a display color selected by the user, the layer display colormay be set as a preset display color when a display color correspondingto each region is set in advance by the analysis software started up indisplaying the medical three-dimensional image data.

FIG. 6C illustrates an example of a table for managing, per layer, layerinformation including the layer name and the layer display color, whichhave been set as described above. As illustrated in FIG. 6C, the tablestores, per layer, an item 621 for switching between the display modeand the non-display mode, an item 622 indicating the set name, and anitem 623 indicating the set display color.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus, the screen representing a state after the layername and the layer display color have been set. When a mouse pointer701, for example, is placed over an area of the thumbnail image displayportion 502 where the layer name is set, a set layer name 702 isdisplayed.

A transparent-state setting button 503 is a button with which the usercan switch over whether a volume rendering image to be displayed in adisplay region 500 is presented in a transparent state or an opaquestate per layer.

A volume display button 505 and a surface display button 506 are buttonswith which the user can switch over whether an image obtained throughvolume rendering of the medical three-dimensional image data or an imageobtained by converting the medical three-dimensional image data to thesurface shape data is to be displayed in the display region 500 for themedical three-dimensional image data. The surface display button 506 isdesigned such that it cannot be selected when the surface shape data isnot yet created.

A surface creation button 507 is a button with which the user caninstruct a process of converting the medical three-dimensional imagedata to the surface shape data. When that conversion process is executedand the surface shape data is created, the created surface shape data isstored in the storage unit such as the external memory 211. By storingthe surface shape data into the storage unit, a surface creation processcan be avoided from being repeatedly executed on the same medicalthree-dimensional image data.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the medical imageprocessing apparatus when the surface display button 506 is selectedafter the surface creation process has been executed. In the illustratedexample, the three-dimensional body organ model of the surface shapedata, which has been created from the medical three-dimensional imagedata, is displayed in the display region 500. Display colors inindividual regions of the three-dimensional body organ model displayedat that time are the display colors set by the layer display colorsetting portion 504.

An output button 508 is a button with which the user can output, as afile, the surface shape data created through the surface creationprocess. The surface shape data can be output as data in the STL format,the IDTF format, or the VRML format, for example. The output data can beused in manually creating an electronic document by the user, or inperforming a modeling process by a three-dimensional printer. A settingbutton 509 is a button with which the user can set the conditions andthe storage destination when the surface creation process is executed.

A remarks entry field 510 is an entry field (entry unit) where the usercan enter comments, etc. to be added at the time of outputting theelectronic document. A layout select button 511 enables the user toselect whether the electronic document is output in a portrait- orlandscape-oriented form. A 3DPDF output button 512 is a button withwhich the user can instruct outputting of the electronic documentincluding the three-dimensional body organ model, which corresponds tothe image displayed in the PDF format in the display region 500. Whenthe 3DPDF output button 512 is pressed, the electronic documentcorresponding to the medical three-dimensional image data displayed inthe display region 500 at that time is output. The electronic documentis output such that the name and the display color of each layer of thethree-dimensional body organ model to be represented on the electronicdocument are given as the name set by the thumbnail image displayportion 502 and the color set by the layer display color setting portion504, respectively.

A flow of processing until the layer name and the layer display color ofeach region specified from the medical image data are set will bedescribed below with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 2 . The processingillustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 2 is executed by the CPU 201 in themedical image processing apparatus 101 reading and executing the storedcontrol program.

In S201, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101starts up the analysis software designated by the user. Morespecifically, the CPU 210 may start up analysis software in whichbody-organ extraction conditions and layer display conditions are set,such as “heart analysis software” and “liver analysis software”, oranalysis software in which no conditions are set, such as free analysissoftware.

In S202, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101accepts, from the user, designation of the medical image data to bedisplayed. Because the medical image data is generally stored in thePACS (image server) as described above, the medical image processingapparatus 101 is able to designate not only data stored in the medicalimage processing apparatus, but also data stored in the external PACS(image server), etc. While the above description is made in connectionwith an example of designating the medical image data after starting upthe analysis software, not all embodiments are limited to such anexample, and the analysis software may be started up after designatingthe medical image data.

In S203, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101acquires the medical image data designated in S202 from the storage unitin which the medical image data is stored.

In S204, the CPU 201 determines whether layer conditions, such as theextraction conditions and the display conditions for the body organs,are set in the analysis software started up in S201. If the layerconditions are set, the processing is advanced to S205 through S207.More specifically, a region is extracted in accordance with the setextraction conditions and is set as a layer (S205). A layer name is setin accordance with the set display conditions (S206), and a layerdisplay color is set in accordance with the set display conditions.

On the other hand, if the layer conditions are not set, the processingis advanced to S208 through S210. More specifically, the CPU 201 acceptsthe setting of a region defined as a layer from the user (S208), acceptsthe setting of a layer name from the user (S209), and accepts thesetting of a layer display color from the user (S210).

Alternately, it is also possible to automatically extract the layer, andto manually set the layer name and/or the layer display color by theuser. The task of setting the layer name and/or the layer display coloris not essential. When the layer name and/or the layer display color isnot set, the relevant information is merely not reflected on theelectronic document.

A flow of a surface shape creation process executed upon pressing of thesurface creation button 507 will be described below with reference to aflowchart of FIG. 3 . Processing illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 3is executed by the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101reading and executing the stored control program.

In S301, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101determines whether the surface creation button 507 is pressed. If it isdetermined that the surface creation button 507 is pressed, theprocessing is advanced to S302 in which the CPU 201 in the medical imageprocessing apparatus 101 creates the surface shape data per layer set inS205 or per layer set in S208. In practice, each layer can be convertedto the surface shape data by using suitable one of the known techniques,for example, the Marching cubes algorithm.

In S303, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101stores the surface shape data, which has been created in S302, at apreset location in the storage unit. In practice, apex coordinatesobtained with the Marching cubes algorithm, for example, are stored asthe surface shape data.

After the end of the above-described processing, the CPU 201 can displaythe three-dimensional body organ model, which has been created on thebasis of the surface shape data, in the display region 500 when thesurface display button 506 is pressed, or to output a file when theoutput button 508 is pressed.

A flow of processing executed upon pressing of the 3DPDF output button512 will be described below with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 4 .The processing illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is executed by theCPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101 reading andexecuting the stored control program.

In S401, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101determines whether the 3DPDF output button 512 is pressed. If it isdetermined that the 3DPDF output button 512 is pressed, the processingis advanced to S402 in which the CPU 201 in the medical image processingapparatus 101 determines whether the surface creation button 507 hasbeen pressed and the surface shape data (surface processing data) hasbeen created in the past. In practice, the above point can be determinedby checking whether the surface shape data is stored at the presetlocation in the storage unit.

If it is determined in S402 that the surface shape data has been createdin the past, the processing is advanced to S404 without executing thecreation process again. If it is determined in S402 that the surfaceshape data has not been created in the past, the CPU 201 in the medicalimage processing apparatus 101 creates, as in S302, the surface shapedata per layer set in S205 or per layer set in S208, and stores thesurface shape data at the preset location in the storage unit. Thus,when surface shape processing has been executed in the past, the surfaceshape processing can be omitted in the process of creating the 3DPDF,and a time taken to create the electronic document can be cut down.

In S404, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101acquires, from the storage unit, the surface shape data of the layerthat is set to the display mode by the display button 501, the surfaceshape data having been created in S403 or S302. In S405, the CPU 201 inthe medical image processing apparatus 101 acquires the name of thelayer that is set to the display mode by the display button 501, thelayer name having been set in S206 or S209. In S406, the CPU 201 in themedical image processing apparatus 101 acquires the display color of thelayer that is set to the display mode by the display button 501, thelayer display color having been set in S207 or S210. The above-describedsetting data can be acquired from the table illustrated in FIG. 6C, forexample.

In S407, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101acquires the patient information, such as the patient name, the patientID, the inspection date, the birth day, the age, and the gender, fromthe DICOM additional information of the medical image data designated inS202.

In S408, the CPU 201 in the medical image processing apparatus 101performs control to output the electronic document in the PDF formatcapable of displaying the three-dimensional body organ model by usingthe surface shape data acquired in S404, the layer name acquired inS405, the layer display color acquired in S406, and the patientinformation acquired in S407.

While the surface shape data, the layer name, and the layer displaycolor are separately acquired in the above-described example, those datamay be collected, before outputting them, together into one file to beusable when the electronic document is created from the relevant fileand the DICOM additional information. For example, the IDTF format orthe VRML format can be used as a format of the file that is output inthe collected form.

Through the above-described operations, the user can create theelectronic document corresponding to the desired medical image data. Asa result, the user can check the three-dimensional state of the bodyorgan for aid in carrying out treatment and diagnosis even in, forexample, an operating room where a high-performance computer is notinstalled.

FIGS. 9 and 10 each illustrate an example of a state in which anelectronic document 902 output through the processing illustrated inFIG. 4 is displayed on an electronic document viewer 901.

The electronic document viewer 901 includes a region where theelectronic document 902 is displayed, and a select region 906 where theuser selects a display model of the electronic document to be displayed.The electronic document 902 includes a three-dimensional body organmodel 905, a patient information field 903, and a remarks field 904.

The select region 906 includes a check box for enabling the display ornon-display mode to be selected (switched over) per layer. Furthermore,the name corresponding to the layer is displayed in the select region906. A body organ region corresponding to the checked layer is displayedas the three-dimensional body organ model 905 on the electronic document902, while a body organ region corresponding to the unchecked layer isnot displayed as the three-dimensional body organ model 905 on theelectronic document 902. FIG. 10 illustrates a state of the electronicdocument 902 when the layer of “HEART” in the select region 906 isunchecked. In the three-dimensional body organ model 905 on theelectronic document 902 illustrated in FIG. 10 , the heart region is notdisplayed. Moreover, the three-dimensional body organ model 905 iscreated such that regions of the body organs corresponding to the layersare each displayed in the set display color. Thus, since the displaymode and the non-display mode can be switched over per layer, the userenables only the desired body organ model to be displayed or notdisplayed on the electronic document by designating the relevant bodyorgan.

The patient information acquired in S407 is displayed in the patientinformation field 903. To which patient the electronic document belongscan be easily identified by displaying the patient informationcorresponding to the three-dimensional body organ model 905 as describedabove. In addition, when the 3DPDF output button 512 is pressed, thecomments having been entered in the remarks entry field 510 illustratedin FIG. 5 are reflected in the remarks field 904.

Some embodiments can be implemented in the form of, for example, asystem, an apparatus, a method, a program, or a storage medium. Morespecifically, some embodiments may be a system made up of a plurality ofdevices, or an apparatus constituted by one device.

Some embodiments supply software programs for carrying out the functionsof the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus directlyor remotely. In some embodiments an information processing apparatus inthe system or the apparatus carries out those functions by reading andexecuting program codes supplied thereto.

Accordingly, the program codes installed in the information processingapparatus to carry out the functions and the processing by theinformation processing apparatus also take part in implementing someembodiments. For that reason, some embodiments include computer programsto carry out the functions and the processing.

In the above case, the computer programs may be in the form of objectcode, programs executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied toOS, for example, insofar as having the functions of programs.

Examples of a recording medium used to supply the programs include aflexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, anMO, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, and a CD-RW. Other examples include a magnetictape, a non-volatile memory card, a ROM, and a DVD (DVD-ROM or DVD-R).

As another method, the programs may be supplied as follows. A clientcomputer makes an access to a home page on the Internet by using abrowser installed therein. Then, the client computer downloads, from thehome page, the computer programs themselves in some embodiments, or afile that contains the computer programs in compressed form and has anautomatic installation function, onto a recording medium such as a harddisk.

Alternatively, the computer programs according to some embodiments maybe supplied by dividing program codes constituting the programs into aplurality of files, and by downloading those files from different homepages. In other words, some embodiments further include a WWW server fordownloading, to a plurality of users, the program files to carry out thefunctions and the processing with an information processing apparatus.

Moreover, the computer programs according to some embodiments may besupplied as follows. After encrypting the computer programs, theencrypted programs are stored in storage media, such as CD-ROM's, andare distributed to users. The user who has cleared the predeterminedconditions is allowed to download key information, which is needed todecrypt the encrypted programs, from a home page via the Internet. Then,the encrypted programs are decrypted by using the downloaded keyinformation, and the obtained programs are installed into an informationprocessing apparatus.

The functions in the above-described embodiment are carried out by aninformation processing apparatus reading programs and executing theprograms. Alternatively, an OS running on the information processingapparatus may execute part or the whole of actual processing inaccordance with instructions of the read programs, and the functions inthe above-described embodiment may be realized with the processingexecuted by the OS.

Furthermore, programs read from a recording medium may be written into amemory equipped in an add-on board inserted into an informationprocessing apparatus, or in an add-on unit connected to an informationprocessing apparatus. Then, a CPU or the like equipped on the add-onboard or the add-on unit may execute part or the whole of actualprocessing in accordance with instructions of the written programs, andthe functions in the above-described embodiment may be realized with theprocessing executed by the CPU or the like.

To which patient the information represented by the three-dimensionalbody organ model belongs can be identified by creating the electronicdocument that contains the patient information obtained from the DICOMadditional information.

While the present disclosure has described to exemplary embodiments, itis to be understood that the claims are not limited to the disclosedexemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to beaccorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all suchmodifications and equivalent structures and functions.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A medical image processing apparatus ofgenerating an electronic document used to display a three-dimensionalbody organ model, the medical image processing apparatus comprising: amemory storing instructions; and at least one processor that, uponexecution of the instructions, is configured to operate as: an acceptingunit that accepts an instruction for generating an electronic document;a surface shape generation unit that generates surface shape data frommedical image data and stores the surface shape data in a storage; and acontrol unit that generates the electronic document with thethree-dimensional body organ model using the surface shape datagenerated by the surface shape generation unit, in response to theinstruction accepted by the accepting unit, wherein the control unitdetermines, upon accepting the instruction, whether or not the surfaceshape data for the three-dimensional body organ model is stored in thestorage, wherein in the case where it is determined that the surfaceshape data is stored in the storage, the surface shape generation unitdoes not generate the surface shape data again, the control unitgenerates the electronic document with the three-dimensional body organmodel using the surface shape data stored in the storage, wherein in thecase where it is determined that the surface shape data is not stored inthe storage, the control unit generates the electronic document with thethree-dimensional body organ model using the surface shape data afterthe surface shape generation unit generates the surface shape data, andwherein the surface shape generation unit converts the medical imagedata to the surface shape data in accordance with Marching cubesalgorithm.
 2. The medical image processing apparatus according to claim1, wherein the three-dimensional body organ model is managed in a statedivided into a plurality of layers, and the control unit performscontrol to generate, as one electronic document, the three-dimensionalbody organ model divided for each of the layers.
 3. The medical imageprocessing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the accepting unit isable to accept an instruction of indicating which one of the layers isto be used to generate the electronic document.
 4. The medical imageprocessing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the surface shapegeneration unit generates the surface shape data for each of the layersby converting the medical image data.
 5. The medical image processingapparatus according to claim 2, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to operate as a color setting unit that sets adisplay color for each of the layers, wherein the control unit performscontrol to generate the electronic document containing the surface shapedata for each of the layers in the display colors set by the colorsetting unit.
 6. The medical image processing apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein the color setting unit displays, on a display, a screenfor setting of the display color.
 7. The medical image processingapparatus according to claim 2, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to operate as a name setting unit that sets a name ofeach of the layers, wherein the control unit performs control togenerate the electronic document containing the surface shape data foreach of the layers having the names set by the name setting unit.
 8. Themedical image processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein theaccepting unit causes a list of the set names of the layers to bedisplayed on a display, and accepts, in accordance with a user operatinginput made on the list, an instruction of indicating which one of thelayers is to be used to generate the electronic document.
 9. The medicalimage processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the surfaceshape generation unit generates the surface shape data after extractinga region in accordance with a preset condition and setting the extractedregion as the layer.
 10. The medical image processing apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the control unit performs control togenerate the electronic document such that whether to display theelectronic document or not is switched over for each of the layers at aterminal at which the electronic document is viewed.
 11. The medicalimage processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronicdocument is in PDF format.
 12. The medical image processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to operate as an extraction condition management unit thatmanages an extraction corresponding to analysis software installed inthe medical image processing apparatus.
 13. The medical image processingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to operate as an entry receiving unit that receivesentry of comments from a user, wherein the control unit performs controlto generate the electronic document such that the electronic documentcontains the comments received by the entry receiving unit.
 14. Themedical image processing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein thecomments are comments regarding remarks obtained by observing themedical image data, and the electronic document is an image readingreport containing the comments regarding the remarks.
 15. A medicalimage processing apparatus of generating an electronic document used todisplay a three-dimensional body organ model, the medical imageprocessing apparatus comprising: a memory storing instructions; and atleast one processor that, upon execution of the instructions, isconfigured to operate as: an accepting unit that accepts an instructionfor generating an electronic document; a surface shape generation unitthat generates surface shape data from medical image data and stores thesurface shape data in a storage; and a control unit that generates theelectronic document with the three-dimensional body organ model usingthe surface shape data generated by the surface shape generation unit,in response to the instruction accepted by the accepting unit, whereinthe surface shape generation unit converts the medical image data to thesurface shape data in accordance with Marching cubes algorithm, andwherein the control unit generates the three-dimensional body organmodel divided into a plurality of layers.